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At least 1 post per week (frequently 2 or 3): Primarily Epic Card Game strategy articles. Game reviews and other game-related posts are possible as well.

Core Sage Army

Forward

This article follows the progression of my core-set-only Core Sage Army deck. I start by explaining how I created the experimental, untested deck (in preparation for the core only alpha for Epic Card Game Digital). Then, I plan on updating this article with an analysis of how the deck performs, in addition to explaining any changes I make to it (assuming it performs well enough to update).

Wild ()

Prototype Explanation

Deck Idea

After my Core Incremental Targeted Removal deck (my original Sage deck plan) morphed into a Good-focused deck, I decided to look through Sage to find a more natural take on a Sage deck. I figured Steel Golem would play a role, but I didn’t know much more than that before gathering cards. (I explain the emergent deck idea in the Gather Cards section below.)

Gather Cards (With Explanation)

While gathering cards and not seeing anything particularly new and interesting, I decided to fall back on a classic: Sage Evil with blitzing 0-cost champions, bounce effects, and Army of the Apocalypse.

Guilt Demon, Dark Knight, and Warrior Golem are excellent blitzing 0-cost threats that can be played while both players still have their gold. Frequently, your opponent can’t stop the 0-cost champions without spending their gold, so they either take the damage or risk exposing themself to a 1-cost blitzing champion (on-turn gold-punisher).

If they didn’t deal with the 0-cost blitz champion, cards like Time Walker and Sea Titan can return them to my hand to be used aggressively again next turn, or even on the same turn. Dark Knight attack, deal damage, then Sea Titan it back to hand, great.

Army of the Apocalypse can also bring multiple of these champions back to play for an even bigger attack, especially when you add in any other 1-cost inherent blitz champions in my discard pile. However, while building I decided I wanted to use my Armies more frequently than just as a kill shot. To accomplish this, I include 3 Amnesias (+ the 3 Guilt Demons) to attack my opponent’s ability to get value from Army. At the same time, in addition to my blitz champions, I have Crystal Golem to draw cards and just obnoxiously big, untargetable champions. Essentially, if I can Army to get back 2 1-cost champions on my turn while providing no benefit to my opponent, I probably will, especially if at least one of those champions is an inherent blitz champion or Crystal Golem.

Wild ()

Distributions

Drain Essence was an easy add to fill out my Evil 1-cost cards. Same with Forcemage Apprentice to fill my 0-cost Sage slots and to break Muses. I still wanted more ways to break Muse and I was struggling to find any other 1-cost Evil cards to allow me to bring Wither/Unquenchable Thirst, so that left me with Wild, specifically Fireball. I didn’t know exactly what 1-cost Wild cards would go with it, but at least there were viable options.

In order to reach 33+ Sage cards, I decided on Djinn of the Sands, Steel Golem, Ancient Chant, and Erase for 1’s. Even though Djinn of the Sands won’t get counters when I bring it back with Army, it is still a 5/5 airborne blitz champion. Steel Golem won’t gain blitz (because its Loyalty 2 effect won’t trigger when brought back with Army), but it is still a 13/13 untargetable champion. Erase is nice for returning my 0-cost champions after attacking and drawing me two cards. It is also strong in aggressive decks because your opponent has less chance to gain value from replaying strong Loyalty 2/Tribute champions. (Bouncing a Raging T-Rex when your opponent is already at 7 cards in hand is just fine).

Hasty Retreat was added primarily as a safety valve against other aggressive decks, but it can also be used to return my attacking champions. Play and attack with Guilt Demon, banishing 2 cards in the process. Your opponent blocks with Thundarus, flipping it. You play Hasty Retreat, return Guilt Demon to hand, replay it, attack, banish 2 cards, and safely fly past the now flipped Thundarus.

To fill out my 1-cost Wild cards, I decided to go with the blunt, aggressive approach: Rampaging Wurm and Flame Strike. This deck is already fairly aggressive, but both of these can really help beat an opponent to a pulp. Getting a 14/14 blitzer back with Army of the Apocalypse and something else is pretty great.

Filling out my Evil cards was much more challenging. There weren’t really any other 1-cost Evil cards I wanted, but Guilt Demon and Dark Knight were non-negotiable. I ended up reluctantly taking Zombie Apocalypse since I already wanted to prevent my opponent from having champions in their discard pile. In addition, it is another safety-valve if I get behind, Juggernaut lives through it on my turn, and it can draw 2 (which I needed). Final Task was my last choice, primarily because it can draw 2 too. It can work great with Juggernaut, and I do have big champions like Sea Titan that can win games if Final Tasked, but I still don’t really want it in this deck.

Thoughts/Concerns

This deck is very strong while ahead. It can pressure with 0-cost blitz champions and punish hard on its turn when an opponent spends their gold first. If this deck is able to come out of the gate quick and force the opponent to play reactively, it might do well. It also has the ability to finish off a weakened opponent with burn.

On the flip side, it seems very weak from behind. It doesn’t have a ton of interaction, and all it can pretty much do is attack. If the opponent gets a couple champions ahead on the board, this deck can currently only really reset with Zombie Apocalypse, Time Walker, or Sea Titan. It might be correct to add in more board clears like Apocalypse/Plague or Stand Alone, but that would potentially diminish the effectiveness of Army of the Apocalypse and the unrelenting blitz pressure.

In addition, while untargetable on Sea Titan, Steel Golem, and Crystal Golem is excellent protection, it does prevent me from including Lashes/Rages to get damage through with them. Add that to the fact that the deck only has 3 Fireballs for fast 0-cost removal and tokens become a real problem. One unremoved The People’s Champion or Plentiful Dead could halt much of my champions’ aggression, at least until my opponent can board clear me. While I don’t expect to see a lot of The People’s Champion, it would go a long way towards beating this deck.

It’s possible that the deck might work better in Evil. Bring Angel of Deaths, Apocalypses, and Plagues with Vampire Lords and just keep playing 0-cost blitz threats while repeatedly clearing the board. Or, keep it Sage focused, so I can run 3 Time Walker instead of trying to reach 3 Angel of Death… Okay, I talked myself into making a change: **see Board Clear adjustment below**

Wild (9)

Board Clear Adjustment

Reason for Change/Change Idea

On further reflection while writing up my Thoughts/Concerns for the prototype, I was worried the deck would have extreme trouble winning from behind. The deck lacked much interaction in general, removal specifically.

With these changes, I now have 12 board clears: 3 Time Walker, 3 Zombie Apocalypse, 3 Apocalypse, and 3 Plague. This, in theory, will allow me to play aggressively with my 0-cost blitzers on an empty board, and then when my opponent builds up threats, I clear the board and start over. Eventually I Army of the Apocalypse to reuse my previously broken threats. In addition, Vampire Lord, Dark Knight, and Juggernaut are all unbreakable on my turn, which works great with my multiple break all effects.

The addition of Apocalypse and Plague help deal with Sea Titans, in addition to my plan outlined in the prototype section above.

Thoughts/Concerns

I like the addition of the extra board clears a lot, and I am quite happy with my Evil choices for this deck. (I was not terribly sad to see the Wild go, but not being able to Army of the Apocalypse back 3 Rampaging Wurms is a bummer.) Wither is also potentially much better at dealing with a significant amount of tokens than Fireball too. Another reliable answer against human token assaults is always appreciated.

I’m still not entirely sold on my Sage compliment though. Erase and Ancient Chant could be traded out. Steel Golem and Djinn of the Sands aren’t guaranteed permanent spots either. The card I am most considering adding is Memory Spirit. I have such high impact events that the tribute effect is highly desirable. Additional off-turn gold-punishers would also be great, especially since I bring so many on-turn board clears. Before I make that change though, I want to see how the deck performs to see if any other changes become obvious.